The present invention relates generally to swimming goggles used to protect the eyes during both leisure and competitive swimming activities. More particularly, the present invention relates to swim goggles worn during swimming that shield the eyes of a user from the water and which have improved adjustability.
Swim goggles have become popular in the mass market both for their protective capabilities, as they shield the user's eyes from water and chemicals therein as well as for their ability to permit the user the opportunity to wear corrective lenses while swimming. Swim goggles provide a sport user with the confidence to compete without the fear of injury or displacement to corrective contact lenses and the recreational user with the ability to reliably shield the user's eyes from the water. Swim goggles currently on the market provide a significant degree of comfort essential to a competitive swimmer but most such goggles are difficult to adjust while wearing them. Therefore, a need exists for a pair of swim goggles in which the user can precisely adjust the goggles with little effort and whereby there is provided a very comfortable custom fit about the head and nose.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to an improved pair of sport goggles which provide for protective capabilities through a superior comfort fit by utilizing a head strap comprised of flexible double cords that extend around the eyecups in order to interconnect the goggle eyecups and also to serve as an adjustable nose bridge. Although the invention may be best typified by describing its use in connection with competitive swim goggles, by no means are the goggles of the present invention limited to that particular application.
Swim goggles that use tubing as a head strap are well known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,373, issued Feb. 21, 1995, describes swim goggles that have two eyecups interconnected by a piece of resilient tubing that forms a nose bridge for the goggles. The goggles are held upon the head of the wearer by a single piece of tubing that forms a head strap. Both pieces of tubing are secured to the eyecups by inserting posts formed on the eyecups into holes formed in the ends of the tubing. This arrangement is subject to slippage and adjustment of both the nose bridge and head strap is time-consuming in that the goggles must typically be removed from the user to adjust them. The tubing may also come free from the posts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,676, issued Jul. 30, 1996, describes a flexible headband for eyeglasses that uses a flexible rubber cord that has an adjustable clamp that the cord passes through for adjusting the headband. In this arrangement, the cord is attached to existing portions of eyeglasses and secures the eyeglasses around the head. Although the eyeglass frames are positioned securely on the user, such a structure is uncomfortable for the user as the nosepiece of the rigid frame is biased against his face.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,967, issued Sep. 4, 1990, describes a pair of sport eyeglasses that uses an adjustable flexible band to secure the eyeglasses to the user's head. The band includes a loop that binds the band together and provides a means for adjusting the fit of the eyeglasses on a user. This method of securement is also subject to slippage, but more importantly this design lacks stability and during vigorous sporting activities is prone to an amount of undesirable displacement and even dislodgement.
In view of the aforementioned need and the shortcomings of the prior art, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a pair of goggles which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art and which can be precisely adjusted with little effort and whereby there is provided a "custom" fit to the user.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a pair of goggles that utilize a doubled stretchable cord for as a head strap, the cord looping through a pair of eyepieces and interconnecting the eyepieces together while forming a nose bridge, such that the head strap adjusts both the fit of the goggle around the user's head and nose.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an eyecup structure for a set of goggles that maintains stability and comfort while the wearer is engaged in strenuous activity and retains a head strap that interconnects the eyecups together in place on the user.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a pair of sport goggles that can be quickly and precisely adjusted while being worn and whereby such adjustment is nearly automatic.
These and other object, features and advantages of the present invention will be clearly understood through a consideration of the following detailed description.